Dude, if you're offering beer, I'm going to show up to help.

Please do Mark, you know I can't do scientific studies without great friends and beer.

And golf ... can't forget the golf!

I have been using Rick's fan method ('cept for cork feet) for 8 months w/ my Onkyo 906. All metal fan/housing. Big difference w/ temps. But, like I said here before, be careful about the dust sucked in, 'cause the fan can do a pretty quick job of forcing the outside dust right into your unit's vents. As soon as you see dust collecting on the blades, it's time to clean it or it will hurl big clumps of dust. Dogs and cats (and peeps) don't help any, either. Then there's Cherios dust...

My $90 electrician hooked it up for me real nice.

I went and bought some of those bumpers Rick mentions. I doubt I'll be using the avr tonight but will report back when I get a chance.

So, is it better to "pull" or "draw" the heat off of a heatsink with a fan, or is it better to "blow" cooler air onto it to dissipate the heat? I've seen both types on amps.

By drawing the hot air up and away from the processor, you're working with and accelerating the natural convection effect. Remember that cooler air moves in from the sides to replace the warm air you're removing.

Rick, overheating isn't something that I'm concerned about(including Onkyo), but ditto Peter's comment about sucking the hot air up.

I've never been too terribly concerned with overheating either John but whenever I saw just how much cooler the H/K runs with the fan I decided to go ahead and run a couple of the smaller fans on the Rotel amp. I ran two of the small fans because of the design of the cooling vents on the amp, four rows of vents on either side of the top with the center being solid with no vents. It now runs much cooler also ... can't hurt, right?

I placed the fans so that they blow up and draw the air through the components like Peter suggested.

How do you know unless you buy one of those awesome laser thermometers? I see a new tool purchase......

I was reading a homebrew blog and saw a picture of a guy measuring the temperature of his wort with an infrared thermometer. Now I want one, too.